Guardian Episode by Episode: 17

[extrapenguin]

Welcome to the rewatchalong! We are now at episode 17. The Imgur screencap album has 66 images. There will be no rewatchalong next week, as I am traveling, and the one after that will be on the Sunday (30th). The Icon Battle round 2 icons are available, in case you missed them.

Previously on:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16

This week, we finish the soil composition and Zhao Yunlan runs around Dixing case, and start the Fight Club case.

Introductions

"Why did you bring a baby to Fight Club?"

We see Ye Huo for the first time. He warns Chu Shuzhi that this place is not a nice place, and Guo Changcheng should go home.

Characterization
In the past scene, Zhao Xinci seems to be sorry that he killed Bao Laosan's wife instead of the actual thief Bao Laosan (but he was willing to execute a guy for theft just because he didn't immediately turn himself over). Now, Bao Laosan was killed in the scuffle, but Zhao Xinci wants everyone to think it was intentional – was it Zhang Shi taking control and not shooting, or has Zhao Xinci grown soft but doesn't want it to get out?


Zhao Xinci's shock? regret? at killing the wife instead.

Zhang Shi seems to be able to temporarily manifest outside Zhao Xinci's body – or is he simply causing Zhao Xinci to see things, and an outside observer would see Director Zhao talking to himself?

There's friction over Bao Laosan's death, though – Zhang Shi is understandably pissed at the unnecessary death of one of his people, while Zhao Xinci outright declares that it's his "mission and destiny" to kill Dixingians. He also, once upon a time, chose killing one criminal over saving his wife, while his son was present.

Zhang Shi brought the SID library a book on Kunlun's adventures! Hmm. Wanting for Zhao Yunlan to prepare for his role as Kunlun?

When Bao Laosan dies, we see a reaction shot of Chu Shuzhi (usually in Western media, reaction shots go to women, because it's more acceptable for women to display emotions like shock, so my ears pricked up at this) and he looks just as shocked as if everyone had suddenly started driving on the left with no warning. It seems Zhao Yunlan hasn't killed anyone as part of an investigation. (Even Zhao Yunlan's boasting that Da Qing brought up was that Zhao Yunlan wanted to arrest all the Dixingians, not kill them.)


That is the most expression we've seen him have.


Chu Shuzhi later escorts his duckling in Fight Club and is very protective of the Guo Changcheng literally clinging to his coattails.

Cong Bo dressed up as a waitress to get pics of the underground fighting ring. Alas, we did not get to see pics of the crossdressing.


We also don't get to see anything involving more creative uses of this pole.

We get more friction between Ya Qing and Zhu Jiu. Ya Qing calls out Zhu Jiu on his leaving a fellow Dixingian to the wolves, while Zhu Jiu says he's 100% OK with it all, since only the strong deserve to survive, and anyway Ye Zun let him know the true voice of his heart, which is that he should dye his hair purple. Ya Qing says that she is only in this business for the benefits to the Yashou, not out of any love for Ye Zun's WTF Social Darwinist methods.

Ooh, Ding Dun was the Regent's pupil! The Regent freed him, and now the Regent is executing the trio of delinquents. For leading Shen Wei to Zhao Yunlan and thus Ding Dun? For not succeeding in distracting Zhao Yunlan from the mission of finding the Dijun Booklet? He didn't tell the delinquents he was the Regent. (Come to think of it, how did Wu Tian'en manage to lead Zhao Yunlan to Ding Dun? It seems a touch suspicious.)

Shen Wei's Oh No I Have Misplaced My Human search is in parts hilarious and in parts touching. The bar crowd thinks he's a fake Envoy until he turns off all the lights, at which point they do a complete 180° and the bartender is all !!! at the Envoy turning up in his bar.


"Okay, now that you believe I'm me, has anyone seen my human?"

We see Shen Wei go really hard on the delinquent trio – anger and pulling his blade out – and then, after he's reached Zhao Yunlan, he outright kills Ding Dun. (Even if Ding Dun was legally dead already, it's still killing a person.) Is this just him being super worried about Yunlan and willing to kill anyone who tried to kill his human, or is this supposed to be his normal modus operandi as the Envoy/how Dixing is supposed to work?


The delinquents actively fear for their lives. Methinks you're overreacting a bit, Shen Wei.

We don't see what Shen Wei does to save Zhao Yunlan.


"Yunlan, wake up! I urgently require your advice on how to quickly found a hospital!"

The Chancellor commented that Shen Wei looks happier now! Then he immediately gave Shen Wei an ultimatum of teaching vs the SID, and Shen Wei was going to choose the SID (due to putting the aforementioned prevention of war and his duties as the Envoy above things like research?) until Jiajia used nepotism on his behalf and he was allowed to do what he likes. The following scene where Jiajia talks with him was very interesting from a characterization perspective! It's almost as if he didn't realize that people liked Professor Shen and found him an important figure in their lives. It did cause him to do a lot of thinking – he was even lost in his thoughts while Zhao Yunlan explained case-related things to him.


Was he unable to see value to others in his role as Professor Shen?

In this episode: Zhao Yunlan figures out that the dude whose surname means "candle" might perhaps have light-based teleportation powers! He figures this out via doing some research by asking an actual Dixingian civilian. This is something Zhao Xinci never could have done, and as an extension of that, Zhu Jiu is someone Zhao Xinci never could've captured.


"Asking produced surprisingly good results!"

Zhao Yunlan claims he's heartless, ruthless, and an asshole, though that might be just to discourage the "fortune teller". He is definitely given pause by the question of family; he laughs it off, but has to take a moment to generate the quip. Interestingly, he recognizes Ding Dun on sight once Ding Dun takes off the mask.


He also has a prime "Well, that backfired spectacularly!" moment.

In some prime Socialist Brotherhood(TM), Zhao Yunlan brings Shen Wei to his mother's grave back on Haixing. Shen Wei cannot read the mood and states that he's not siding with Zhao Yunlan/the SID due to siding with humans, but only to prevent another war. While they probably do need to talk more about Shen Wei's loyalties and just who he is for Dixing, this is very much not the time and place. Especially when Zhao Yunlan is having some Thoughts about his dad bringing flowers to mom's grave and experiencing emotions related to that.


"Shen Wei, please, you're not helping."

Canon notes

• Apparently, using Dixing powers to cause harm + resisting arrest = death penalty.
• Zhu Long 烛龙 and Jiu Yin 九阴 are famous Dixingian heroes.
• Zhu Jiu didn't yet have powers when he met Ye Zun.
• Zhao Yunlan's mother's name is Shen Xi 沈溪, with the same surname as Shen Wei.

Cinematography
Shots from beneath to show impressive power for Bao Laosan.


Shots from above to show that Zhu Jiu is small before the pillar and to show that Zhao Yunlan has a firefighter's pole thing.


Shots from afar!




We get scenes shot through blinds and other intervening devices to demonstrate secrets and discord.

Left: Zhu Jiu and Ya Qing have a disagreement, and also foreshadowing of Ya Qing harboring doubts. Right: Zhao Yunlan decides to take the Kunlun book as evening reading.

Also, this shot of Shen Wei and his blade is a perfect example of the lyrical diagonal in composition. In Western art thought, the gaze is thought to start from top left and go to the bottom right. The lyrical diagonal interrupts that movement abruptly, like crashing into a brick wall. It is meant to give pause.


The other diagonal is called the dramatic diagonal, and while this shot doesn't have that per se, it shows as the line of sight. Think of the dramatic diagonal as pressing the accelerator on the gaze's way from corner to corner, while the lyric diagonal makes it stutter.

Zhao Yunlan looks at books, decides to leave lit review to Shen Wei.

We also get some tilted camera in this episode. The changing of vertical and horizontal to diagonal gives some life to the shot.

It can also be used to make the height gap look less vast.

Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
We start with the same jacket as last episode, but then he gets to sleep and change clothes for lit review (into a leather jacket), and again before sending his field team to Fight Club (into a denim jacket).



Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

Now, Bao Laosan was killed in the scuffle, but Zhao Xinci wants everyone to think it was intentional – was it Zhang Shi taking control and not shooting, or has Zhao Xinci grown soft but doesn't want it to get out?

I had thought the guy pulled the trigger himself because he was Done. Zhang Shi hadn't occurred to me.

An interesting point about Zhao Xinci (IMO) that he uses a family photograph as his phone lockscreen. I mean, it's not super unusual, lots of people have family photos as lockscreens or phone backgrounds. But with a guy like Zhao Xinci, he would have struck me as a strict "my work phone is my work phone and why would I customize anything for sentimental reasons".

The lock screen is so obvious that I actually wonder what Zhao Yunlan makes of it - he must have seen it at some point, tbh.

Chu Shuzhi later escorts his duckling in Fight Club and is very protective of the Guo Changcheng literally clinging to his coattails.

Guo often triggers my embarrassment squick, but OMG the holding on to the cloak was to die for. Though I also LOL'd at the suggestion, as Chu and Guo walk in there, that Guo might not look like a good guy...

I'd like to point out that when they're in Dixing, Zhao Yunlan asks for an intelligence agency, and gets "dude on the street with a table". Dixing governance is A LITTLE BIT TERRIBLE.

Also, apparently Dixing has The Who t-shirts.

The firestation pole is SUCH a Zhao Yunlan thing. Do we actually know if the SID was always in that building? Because if they moved in there / took over that building while Zhao Yunlan was already Chief, then I think we know for sure who made sure the pole stayed in...

Ya Qing has such a healthy attitude towards Ye Zun, compared to all the other baddies... I mean, she's still on the wrong side and will unfortunately be responsible for a few deaths, but her no-nonsense attitude here is heartwarming.

Shen Wei going after the three stooges really hard is quite a sight to behold.

Is this just him being super worried about Yunlan and willing to kill anyone who tried to kill his human, or is this supposed to be his normal modus operandi as the Envoy/how Dixing is supposed to work?

I think this is the first example we see of Shen Wei reacting overly harshly / overreacting to people who threaten Zhao Yunlan, in line with the later accidental killing of Cat Girl. It's probably close enough to what you might expect from the Envoy that in Dixing, nobody finds it weird (the absolutely casual way this is done is a thing that continues to impress and amuse me), but I think it's 100% related to Zhao Yunlan. Shen Wei might have a rep as a Tough Envoy but he doesn't actually like going for people that hard as part of his professional duties. Threatening Zhao Yunlan just turns his safeties off.

We don't see what Shen Wei does to save Zhao Yunlan.

We do, though? He does the black energy thing...



My question: do we know how the bullets work on that dark energy gun?

That shot of Zhao Yunlan looking at the books with the pink post-its is lovely! :D

I confess I had forgotten until my last rewatch that there was a bit where the university wanted to kick him out, but then he was saved by the Tiniest Student in Dragon City. (But good! He should get to have that!!)

The graveyard scene has so much going on between the lines. Zhao Yunlan's face when he realises someone's been at the grave absolutely kills me, and the quiet stuff that's going on on his face is absolutely marvellous. I just went back to rewatch this, and I think you're right that this is a case where Shen Wei can't read the atmosphere (or his mind is really elsewhere) and he keeps going on about Big Politics while Zhao Yunlan is in a very different headspace. There's a great bit at the end where for once, you can actually see Zhao Yunlan put his mask back on towards Shen Wei, and while I don't think it's a big deal in the long run (I am not saying this is a long-term mark on their relationship!), to me it's interesting to see that that relatively late-ish, especially in contrast to earlier scenes where Shen Wei is very attuned to Zhao Yunlan having Feels and very good about them. (Shen Wei is not perfect!)

The other thing that I find very interesting about this sequence is how Shen Wei talks about strategy and long-term goals. Early on in the series, there are a number of doomy gloomy prophecy-style lines that can be taken as Shen Wei assuming there is some sort of unstoppable fate waiting for them, like the tragedies being written from the beginning, etc. But the dialog about the Holy Tools ("all I'm doing is to try to prevent another war") sounds to me like from a markedly different register. That's much more down to earth, strategy-and-tactics talk (and like he'd like to bat around ideas with Zhao Yunlan, except Zhao Yunlan is curiously unresponsive on his important tactical thoughts...) of a general who has done this thing before and is now trying to do something similar under perhaps more difficult because more confusing circumstances.

Also, on the Jo-is-a-terrible-person front: I know kid!Zhao Yunlan just lost his mom and there is nothing funny about that, but can I, as a terrible person who found it funny anyway, point out that kid!Zhao Yunlan... is wearing a leather jacket?

[solo]

he looks just as shocked as if everyone had suddenly started driving on the left with no warning.

LOL what an apt comparison. :D

Zhao Yunlan looks quite nimble on that pole, really.

The bar scene! I adore it! Shen Wei asks his question. Everbody gets nasty evil meh. He waits it out, transforms. Everyone goes all sucky-uppy. And he asks his question again, like the rest just doesn't concern him at all. BAMF.
(also when the bar guy realizes he's for real and points at him in his excitement it takes One Look. :D )

I'm very impressed with the special effects chalk picture on the pavement around 9:00.

Is this just him being super worried about Yunlan and willing to kill anyone who tried to kill his human, or is this supposed to be his normal modus operandi as the Envoy/how Dixing is supposed to work?

I think it's reflex, he does it to cat girl too (though he's very sorry afterwards). Given how he's warning people off Zhao Yunlan, I can totally buy this.

When Zhu Jiu talks about the inner voice of his heart, doesn't he look disturbingly orgasmic?

And poor Zhao Yunlan, going wild-eyed at the thought his dad might be around at the cemetery. ;_;

When the Regent wants to electrocute the trio, I'm always like 'YOU HAVE NO RESOURCES! WHAT'S WRONG WITH STRANGLING?' Maybe that's just me.

And for intriguing, Zhao Yunlan actually calls Sang Zan 'senpai' (c. 33) or whatever the Chinese pronunciation of that is. I guess Sang Zan is a lot more senior but I didn't expect Zhao Yunlan to think like that in terms of having been stuck in pillars for a hundred years.

[clevermanka]

Zhang Shi seems to be able to temporarily manifest outside Zhao Xinci's body – or is he simply causing Zhao Xinci to see things, and an outside observer would see Director Zhao talking to himself?
I always read that as an observer would've just seen Zhao Xinci talking to himself.

I can't believe I haven't seen any fic that incorporates that pole or the swing in Zhao Yunlan's apartment. COME ON PEOPLE.

That fantastic screenshot with the blade is now in my art image folder, thank you.

The cinematography in this show really is amazing.

P.S. I am trying to eat my lunch while reading this but it's not going well because it's very difficult to laugh through salad. Your captions are hilarious, srsly.

[lunabee34]

I don't think Zhang Shi is actually manifesting in the mirror; I don't think an outside observer would notice anything. I think it's just using the mirror as a convenient way to show the conversation rather than having Zhao Xinci hear a voice in his head.

[qikiqtarjuaq]

Zhao Yunlan has definitely drunkenly pole-danced on that pole in the office before. And it is sweet how oblivious Shen Wei is to how much the students adore him!

[lynndyre]

The bit at Zhao Yunlan's mother's grave baffled me so much! Shen Wei is normally quite respectful, and talking about political shit over the top of someone's grief/honoring their parent, especially when it's Zhao Yunlan, felt amazingly tone-deaf for how Shen Wei normally acts. I think it may be partly how much he's worrying about things on like. Three or four different fronts, now. But it was a weird scene.

I love ZYL's fireman's pole, it's so delightfully random and he just has fun with it. XD

[zeest]

That graveyard scene was AWKWARD *g* oh Shen Wei. I guess his "How to be a Normal Haixingian" manual didn't cover the topic of dealing with grief, given this and the bit with Zu Ma's death.

Does that pole go right into Zhao Yunlan's office?? I... have so many questions but that is A GREAT SCREENCAP and that's definitely how ZYL stays in shape.

That bit about the phone lockscreen reminds me; the picture on ZYL's lockscreen that was in the previous episode (I'm borrowing the image from your screencap folder) - that's a Chinese lantern fruit and among the names it has are 挂金灯 and金灯, the same 灯 as the Guardian Lamp! Also, in Japanese popular culture, it is the lamp that is used to guide the spirits of the dead (but afaik, this isn't in Chinese popular culture).

[trobadora]

I love the pole, and that's a wonderful screencap. :D

Zhang Shi seems to be able to temporarily manifest outside Zhao Xinci's body – or is he simply causing Zhao Xinci to see things, and an outside observer would see Director Zhao talking to himself?

I thought it was just a visual representation of an internal conversation, as it would have been very confusing otherwise, given that they have the same voice.

Ya Qing says that she is only in this business for the benefits to the Yashou, not out of any love for Ye Zun's WTF Social Darwinist methods.

I really find Ya Qing fascinating, and I love that she's calling Zhu Jiu on his crap.

He figures this out via doing some research by asking an actual Dixingian civilian. This is something Zhao Xinci never could have done, and as an extension of that, Zhu Jiu is someone Zhao Xinci never could've captured.

Excellent observation! OMG, Zhao Xinci vs. Zhu Jiu would have been a disaster ...

Shen Wei cannot read the mood and states that he's not siding with Zhao Yunlan/the SID due to siding with humans, but only to prevent another war.

I was wondering if it was a deliberate attempt to change the subject and distract Zhao Yunlan, which didn't work here.